Creating bridges, developing tokens, and enhancing cross-chain interoperability are monumental operations. They break down the silos between blockchains, enabling asset transfers, increased liquidity, and greater innovation. By building bridges, developers empower users to move assets and data across multiple chains, unlocking new use cases and alleviating onboarding. Token development allows for customized economies with unique incentives, governance structures, and financial models catering to diverse user needs. Cross-chain interoperability fosters more connected blockchain ecosystems, reducing congestion on individual networks and enabling decentralized applications (dApps) to operate across multiple protocols.
LayerZero, a pioneering cross-chain interoperability protocol, is now live on Cronos zkEVM and Cronos EVM. This includes mainnet and testnet networks, Cronos Labs and LayerZero announced. Following the integration, builders will be able to create bridges, develop tokens, and explore a wide range of cross-blockchain applications. When these applications materialize, they will link Cronos users to the aggregated liquidity of blockchains that LayerZero supports. These include Ethereum, Solana, and another 115+ L1 and L2 chains.
This significant milestone is expected to be followed by a series of further integrations, considering that hundreds of apps using LayerZero can now offer Cronos users their services. This will alleviate access to cryptocurrency worth several billions of US dollars, held securely on Cronos.
Users of Cronos EVM, the leading L1 blockchain on the Cosmos SDK, can now transfer their assets between the Cosmos SDK ecosystem, Solana, and numerous other EVM-compatible blockchains with ease. The ecosystem is interoperable with Cronos EVM via the Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol.
Users will continue to benefit from the native Ethereum bridge, which around a dozen other Elastic Chains share. This is good news for Cronos zkEVM, the first Elastic Chain (L2) whose mainnet will launch after ZKSync Era. These users will also be able to execute quick cross-chain transfers with a large number of L1 and L2 blockchains.
LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino expressed delight at LayerZero’s expansion to Cronos zkEVM in this historic development. He emphasized that connecting different types of blockchains is the essence of interoperability and is excited to see what will follow.
Ken Timsit, Managing Director of Cronos Labs, also underscored the importance of cross-chain interoperability. He pointed out that it has been Cronos’s main priority since its inception. Cronos Labs is working on that priority cautiously yet determinedly in light of the significant liquidity and security challenges of the crypto industry fragmentation. Mr. Timsit anticipates that the integration with LayerZero will enable much greater connectivity between TradFi and crypto projects in 2025.
The cutting-edge functionalities aren’t live for most end users because LayerZero is mainly a developer tool, and further announcements are expected. The official Cronos bridge portals will feature new cross-chain bridging options as third-party links at zkevm.cronos.org/bridge for Cronos zkEVM and cronos.org/bridge for Cronos EVM. These will include token bridging options such as new CRO / zkCRO between Cronos zkEVM and EVM, which will be enhanced in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, Cronos Labs is prepared to support all developers who are interested in exploring the new functionalities. While invigorating, token bridging is not the only use case Cronos Labs wants to develop. The Web3 start-up accelerator is interested in supporting dApps using Layer Zero’s technology to grow tokenization of real-world assets, cross-chain prediction markets and lending protocols, liquid staking and restaking protocols, trading platforms for synthetic assets, and other DeFi applications that can use locked cross-chain collateral. Its ultimate goal is to help build a future where blockchains work together, driving mass adoption and making niches like real-world asset tokenization more efficient and intuitive.
